Starting All Grain

[happy benno]

using my esky can i use a big enough bag to fit the esky to mash in instead of fitting a manifold, like the BIAB but wanting to sparge.

cheers

 

[bum]

You can dunk sparge with BIAB the same way you would essentially be doing with this method.

For what it is worth, I've used the method you describe but for partials and suspect I was having oxidation issues from pouring from the esky to my pot/kettle. I suppose I could have waited for it to cool first but in an esky? Felt it would take too long and increase my chances of yuckiness and wanted to get it boiling as fast as I could.

If you really want to avoid tampering with your esky then maybe you should consider going with a more common BIAB set-up.

 

[happy benno]

You can dunk sparge with BIAB the same way you would essentially be doing with this method.

For what it is worth, I've used the method you describe but for partials and suspect I was having oxidation issues from pouring from the esky to my pot/kettle. I suppose I could have waited for it to cool first but in an esky? Felt it would take too long and increase my chances of yuckiness and wanted to get it boiling as fast as I could.

If you really want to avoid tampering with your esky then maybe you should consider going with a more common BIAB set-up.

I forgot to add i have a drain plug on my esky and was planing to drain via a hose to my 50L kettle
could that be a plan.

thanks for the info.

 

[jakub76]

You can make a very simple manifold by using braided hose and some hose clamps.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&id=35340
That's what I did to my esky and it works great for batch sparging.

My simple setup step by step is here... http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...&hl=jakub76

Instructions for a simple esky conversion are here... www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftY_HZAFJFc

Hope this helps.

 

[jakub76]

Yeah, hose into your keetle is the way to go but consider a trip to bunnings for a couple of bits of plumbing. Sounds like you're most of the way there. Now just $20-$30 at Bunnings and you'll be ready to go All Grain.

I forgot to add i have a drain plug on my esky and was planing to drain via a hose to my 50L kettle
could that be a plan.

thanks for the info.

 

[manticle]

Tradelink and plumbing shops are cheaper than Bunnings for plumbing bits I've found - better advice too.

 

[bum]

I forgot to add i have a drain plug on my esky and was planing to drain via a hose to my 50L kettle
could that be a plan.

There are certainly many cheap ways to make a manifold and this is a proven method but I honestly can't see any immediate reason not to try it that way. If you find it a bit of a PITA then you can pretty easily try a manifold on the next one.

One immediate issue that springs to mind with this method though is that dough-in is a little more difficult - gotta be careful not to stir so that the bag moves and contains small pockets of grain. Wouldn't bugger a beer but might effect efficiency.

 

[happy benno]

might ditch the bag idea sounds like a manifold is the only way to go i dont want to make it harder for myself.

thanks.

 

[Steve]

might ditch the bag idea sounds like a manifold is the only way to go i dont want to make it harder for myself.

thanks.

Cant get any easier than this:

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/

Got to the bottom of the page and click through the pics. I personally use a copper manifold, but use the same method as this guy.

Cheers
Steve

 

[boybrewer]

Cant get any easier than this:

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/

Got to the bottom of the page and click through the pics. I personally use a copper manifold, but use the same method as this guy.

Cheers
Steve

Here is another opinion WHY NOT use a bag in the esky ? All you do is the same as using a manifold , the bag is straining the wort . Put the bag in place add the water and grains in ,stir , recirculate , wait and then sparge .Drain and repeat the last step , how easy .

 

[dbod]

Here is another opinion WHY NOT use a bag in the esky ? All you do is the same as using a manifold , the bag is straining the wort . Put the bag in place add the water and grains in ,stir , recirculate , wait and then sparge .Drain and repeat the last step , how easy .

I'm all for the easy life and I'm sure either way = beer, which is of course the objective here.

But with a manifold, isn't the grain itself straining the grain, rather than with a bag where it's more of your teabag type situation. Happy to plead ignorance as not a BIAB person, good luck whatever the process, so long as you can get some SUGAR out of some GRAIN you're on the road to turning it into ALCOHOHOHOLOL :icon_cheers:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

How it works is going to depend on the technique the OP plans to use.

You could mash in an eski in a bag &...

*Lift the bag almost completely out after the mash, drain the wort, replace the bag, add sparge water, stir, lift drain. This is basically just BIAB with a sparge step in a an eski

* Just lift the bag away from the actual outlet a little and drain it out that way, add sparge repeat. This is basically batch sparging but using a bag instead of a manifold

* Actually put in a manifold.. but it can be pretty rough and ready - use the bag too. You mash and sparge just like a normal batch spage/manifold system, but you have the option of pulling the bag if you have stuck sparge trouble... and it makes emptying the mash tun pretty damn easy.

Me - I would be inclined to mash in my boil kettle BIAB style... this allows you to step mash and mash out via direct heat. You can use your eski as a passive HLT/Sparge vessel. Here's how.

Work out how much sparge water you want to use.. heat it up to nearly boiling in your pot and transfer it to your eski... close the lid. Now heat up your strike water for you main mash... Mash. Pull the bag out and let it drain a little - open your eski... it should still be plenty hot enough for a nice sparge. drop in the bag, stir it all up and pull the bag again with draining and a light squeeze. Combine your second and first worts in the pot.

You get the direct heating advantages of mashing in your pot... plus the nice easy sparge method of Dunk Sparge.

If you get fancy... its not too hard to work stuff out so you can hit temps and volumes spot on without double heating. A quick trial run and you will be able to work out how hot to heat your sparge water so that its still at sparge temps by the end of the mash. As an example lets say you need it to be 95. Now... if you are tricky, you will be able to work it out so you heat up enough water in your kettle to give you the right volume of 95 water into your eski and leave behind some 95 water in your kettle... to which you will add some cold tap water and get your correct volume and temperature for mash in. No need to heat the two water portions separately. It takes 5 minutes of number crunching to work out... aim a little low and you can just whack on the heat for a minute or two to make up any difference.

TB

 

[WarmBeer]

Ahhh, BIASIAE - Brew In A Sheet In An Esky

I did my first half dozen AG brews using BIASIAE, it works just fine. No need to recirculate before draining into the kettle, as the voille is fine enough to keep any grainy bits inside the "bag". Makes cleaning up easy too, as all the spent grains can be easily scooped out of the sheet into a garbage bin or compost heap.

Only issue I had with it is I couldn't get better than about 55% efficiency. I think it must be due to inconsistent draining of the wort.

I've since upgraded to a BB false bottom, but if you just want to get your beer on without mucking about, or you're a bit of a tool-tard, use the BIASIAE method until you decide you want to upgrade.

 

[Bribie G]

might ditch the bag idea sounds like a manifold is the only way to go i dont want to make it harder for myself.

thanks.

If you are going to do a significant sparge step, it's best to have a grain filter bed happening and sparge slowly. You won't get that with a bag because the moment you hoist it, the grain moves and slooshes around and the wort escapes from the bottom and sides using the path of least resistance. However as TB says with your flogging great pot that you have there, you could easily go full-volume and do a straight BIAB and cut out the esky, and still get reasonable efficiency.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Oh, I would normally rant that there was no need to sparge a BIAB style brew... pointless waste of time and effort IMO. You can get 70+ % efficiency out of a no-sparge BIAB set-up with ease. And therefore that the OP's 50L to was the only bit of kit he needed to worry about and his eski should be saved for chilling his finished beer. Thats what I actually think the OP should do - BUT - he specifically stated that he wanted to sparge.. and seemed to want to use the eski. So I tried to describe some options for doing that.

 

[Wardhog]

No reason you can't do it, it's just a little bit more work. It's what I did for quite a while until I found someone who could help me make a manifold.

My esky didn't have a drainage hole in it though, I had to lift the bag out, put it in a bucket while I picked up the esky and tipped the contents into a kettle before putting the grain back in and sparging (which involved taking the grain out and lifting & tipping the esky again) - Thirsty Boy's right, it's a lot less work and less time to BIAB in your pot.

It'll work, but you are better off with a manifold if you can organise it or BIAB if you can't.

 

[tcraig20]

My first AG, may be relevant here:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=44267

Still using this technique - efficiency seems fine (about 80% by my very crude calculations), no oxidation problems that I can detect.